‘Mother, Mother Ocean,’ We Have Heard You Call — World Ocean Day
“Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call …” Jimmy Buffet sang it and we’ve all heard it. Millions of sailors have been captivated by sailing the oceans for centuries. What’s going on out there? The ocean is busy with the just-finished California Offshore Race Week; the Pacific Cup is coming up, and the Half Moon Bay Race and SSS Long Pac race are coming soon, while Pacific Puddle Jump cruisers are arriving in the Marquesas.
The ocean has been our host for tons of racing offshore and on the Bay, and for cruising everywhere. Sailors are fortunate and appreciative for the endless opportunities to sail. Today, the annual World Ocean Day on June 8, is a fitting day to say thanks to our host. Sailors have always cared for the ocean and been on the front lines of seeing human impacts on the ocean. The ocean is vast, but not so vast that eight billion humans can’t find ways to stress it out!
The Ocean Project has organized World Ocean Day since 2002 with the main goal of globally coordinating and uniting the world to protect and restore our blue planet with its one ocean, one climate, and one future, together. By joining together, and with a special emphasis on engaging and connecting youth, they hope to significantly increase awareness, action, and the political will needed to create a healthier ocean and a better future.
For the third consecutive year, World Ocean Day’s international network is continuing to support momentum for a global commitment to “30×30.” The goal is to protect at least 30% of all lands, waters, and ocean by 2030 to create a healthy ocean with abundant wildlife and help stabilize the climate.
They also provide a new “How-to Guide” to help easily incorporate this theme into everyone’s World Ocean Day plans. Sailors can also sign this year’s 30×30 petition and share it with other sailors who want to protect what’s living below the waterline.
World Ocean Day was first proposed by Canada in 1992, but it wasn’t fully recognized by the United Nations until 2008. Now it is an annual event, celebrating the biggest ecosystem on the planet. Last year there were over 1,000 online and in-person events in 140 countries, and more than 1,100 organizations in 84 countries signed a global petition to protect 30% of our lands and oceans by 2030.
We salute all World Ocean Day organizers and all sailors who respect the oceans while out sailing, and who bring ashore the lessons from sailing the sea. We are all grateful for what we’ve got while we join everyone in searching for solutions to the challenges faced by the oceans and the planet.
Good Jibes Episode #43 With Captain Donald Lawson
Welcome to Good Jibes Episode #43. This week’s host, Ryan Foland, is joined by Captain Donald Lawson to talk about the planning and preparation needed to break some of the most difficult sailing records in the world. Donald is chairperson of US Sailing’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and is currently the owner of the trimaran Mighty Merloe, which he intends to rechristen Defiant, and aboard which he’s setting sail to break a number of solo course records.
Hear how to practice your sailing craft and turn difficult passages into enjoyable ones, what you have to do to be considered one of the best, about French vs. US sailing culture, and how to choose your own weather on the water. This episode covers everything from breaking sailing records to trimaran life.
Here’s a small sample from the episode:
- Has Donald always been competitive?
- How does preparation tie in with competitiveness?
- What are records?
- How long has Donald known he’d be going after this record?
- Are there solo records and crew records?
- Do you get a Guinness World Record at the same time as a WSSRC record?
- Why is French sailing culture so prestigious?
- Is there a new record for every type of foil?
Learn more about Donald on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and here: https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/orma-60-mighty-merloe-visits-san-francisco-bay/
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A Slow Jaunt to the Farallones
Saturday’s OYRA race around the Farallones was a slow, gray affair. Pat Broderick of the Wyliecat 30 Nancy is preparing a report for the July issue of Latitude 38. Nancy was the only boat that showed up for the Shorthanded (SHS) division. Pat commented, “We spent an hour and a half about 400 yards away from the deepwater channel buoy #1 with the Lightship buoy on the horizon and not getting any closer. It’s surprising how much early flood there is that far out. Wind speed about 3 knots, boat speed through the water about 1.5 knot, but over the ground more like 0.7.”
“We had a fun race,” reports Mark Dowdy, who sails the Synergy 1000 Sapphire. “Surreal conditions, with a light breeze often not reaching all the way to the water, so we were cruising along in glassy seas. We had a spectacular rounding in the backward direction, with very little swell running. It was pretty much two sails out, set the kite to round, then back to two sails until we were past the channel coming back in, when a nice little southerly filled. (Pegasus did a great job of positioning for that and dusted us there!”)
Pegasus, sailed by father and son Stephen and Patrick Lewis and Joel Hulse, corrected out to first place overall with an elapsed time on the course of 10 hours, 3 minutes and a corrected time of 10:46:05. Pegasus is a 36-foot sloop home-built by Dan Newland.
Nine of the 24 starters were unable to finish. Those in the fastest division, PHRO 1, had the highest percentage of finishers. (Pegasus and Sapphire were among the PHRO 1 entries.) See results on Jibeset.
The next opportunity to catch a whiff of the stinky rocks will come on June 18, when the Bay Area Multihull Association will run their Doublehanded Farallones Race, rescheduled from stormy April 9. The DHF has 52 boats signed up! BAMA will accept new registrations through Thursday, June 16.
‘Women on the Water/Women at the Helm’ Regatta Announcement
Since the 1970s the Women’s Sailing Association of Santa Monica Bay has hosted an annual regatta, Women on the Water/Woman at the Helm (WOW/WAH), designed to promote, encourage and empower women to sail, race, and take the helm. This year the regatta will take place August 6 and 7 on Santa Monica Bay, Southern California.
The weekend has been described as “the most joyful and inspiring regatta of the year — two days of thrilling, competitive sailing, with female skippers and crews taking their fine vessels through a variety of courses to the finish line.”
Sailboats registered in the WOW Division must have an all-female crew, and sailboats registered in the WAH Division may have a co-ed crew, but must have a woman at the helm for the duration of every race.
The event began as a Women on the Water series that started in the early 1970s with the 26-mile-long “Ladies Got Guts” race from Marina del Rey to the Isthmus of Catalina.
Inclusivity is a primary component of WOW/WAH and WSASMB, and everyone is welcome — including men, many of whom support and assist the event by offering their boats for use in the regatta, sponsoring, training, coordinating, working on the race committee, and helping in many other areas.
Jana Davis is an experienced sailor and racer, and has been participating in WOW/WAH for over a decade. She has also acted as WSASMB WOW/WAH chairperson and shares her thoughts about the event. “If you want to feel empowered and energized to take on more challenges in your sailing life, participate in this regatta. The WOW/WAH has been an essential part of my personal growth as a sailor. I have found valuable mentors and advocates because I was part of this regatta. We are all competitive when the starting sequence begins out there, but then we come back to the clubs and lift each other up. Help each other get better. It becomes a collaboration and it is awesome … through the years this spirit of camaraderie and collaboration has grown. And that to me is what WOW/WAH is all about.”
Whether you have a boat or not, you can join WOW/WAH 2022 by becoming a member of WSASMB and registering for WOW/WAH, or by joining and signing up for a crew position. “All levels and types of sailors are welcome.”
Waves of Improvement Are Transforming the Berkeley Marina
Waves of improvement are transforming the Berkeley Marina. Download a free day pass for your boat and check out all the improvements we have to offer. A clean, fenced entrance off the freeway transitions drivers off I-80 while smooth paving and new street improvements guide you to your dock gate. Come on in to check out our renovated restrooms, dock improvements, and more.